The Devotion of Sita (Hindu legend)

Author: Valmiki

Time Period: 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: India

Genre: Legend

Overview

For billions of South Asians and Southeast Asians, the character Sita in the beloved Rāmāyaṇa epic has been the ideal female archetype. The perennially popular epic lavishly praises Sita for both her physical beauty and her unbreakable devotion to her husband, Rama, the main protagonist of the tale. It is Rama’s love for Sita that leads him on his great adventure, but in a moment of moral weakness, he doubts her faithfulness and condemns her to exile. Sita’s graceful acceptance of her husband’s flawed will and the strength of character she demonstrates in facing her fate without losing her devotion to Rama ultimately make her the real hero of the myth.

The Rāmāyaṇa is an important Hindu myth as well as an entertaining epic. It is traditionally ascribed to the great Sanskrit poet Valmiki, for whom no reliable, detailed biographies exist. According to some recent scholars, he probably lived in the centuries before the Common Era in urbanized northeastern India. Indian folk history suggests that he lived in a forest, possibly as a hunter or brigand, until he was moved to recite poetry by seeing the senseless slaughter of a beautiful bird by a greedy hunter. It is possible that Valmiki is an entirely legendary rather than historical figure and is given credit for a canon of popular Sanskrit poetry written by a multitude of forgotten authors. Modern scholarship suggests that the different parts of the Rāmāyaṇa are of varying antiquity, dating from between 500 and 100 BCE, which certainly supports this theory.

The epic consists of twenty-four thousand verses written in a poetic meter called anustup, which is used in earlier Vedic scripture as well. It is divided into seven books, or Kāṇḍas. The Rāmāyaṇa is considered smṛti (remembered), rather than sruti (written), and as such is particularly ripe for interpretation and adaptation. Indeed, hundreds of different versions of the epic have been told and retold throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia over the centuries.

The Rāmāyaṇa recounts the adventures of a young king of Ayodhya named Rama, a manifestation of the powerful Hindu creation deity Visṇu (Vishnu). Rama falls in love with and marries Sita, described as the most beautiful and graceful woman in the world. She is a manifestation of Lakṣmī (Lakshmi), the goddess of fortune and beauty.

“I grieve not for myself, because I have been abandoned for what people say, and not for any evil I have done. The husband is the God of the wife, the husband is her lord and guide, and what seems good unto him she should do even at the cost of her life.”

Uttara Kāṇḍa, Rāmāyaṇa

The central conflict of the Rāmāyaṇa involves Sita being kidnapped by a spiritually powerful demon king named Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa steals Sita away to his capital, Lakṣmī, across the ocean, where she is guarded by his army of lesser demons. Rama boldly rescues her, assisted by a host of allies. Chief among these is Hanuman, the monkey hero, who is venerated as a popular god to this day.

The Rāmāyaṇa is considered sacred Hindu mythology as well as a favorite source of entertainment in South and Southeast Asia. Some people even consider it quasi-historical, containing fragmented accounts of real battles and references to forgotten kingdoms. It is, above all, an epic tale of idealized archetypes. Rama and Sita are described as the most beautiful people imaginable, possessing a level of courage and grace only possible among the gods. Rama and his human, divine, and mythological allies fight against the forces of the ultimate villain, Rāvaṇa. As such, the Rāmāyaṇa is an epic clash between archetypal good and evil.

Summary

The first book of the Rāmāyaṇa, the Bala Kāṇḍa, opens with a metanarrative about how the forest-dwelling scholar Valmiki is sitting in contemplation in the forest when he is visited by a Vedic saint known as Narada, the giver of wisdom, often portrayed in early Hindu mythology as an agent of Visṇu. Narada tells Valmiki an abridged version of the tale of the beautiful prince Rama.

Valmiki is so moved by the tale recounted by Narada that he begins to create poetic verses about the story. When he returns from the forest to his monastic home, the god Brahma, the four-faced lord of creation, is there. Brahma says that the poetry that Valmiki is reciting is so lovely that he must develop it into a full history of Rama and his cohorts. Brahma promises Valmiki that if he does this, the story will endure forever.

The Bala Kāṇḍa describes Rama as the son of Dasaratha (Dasharatha), the honorable king of Ayodhya. Dasaratha had three wives but no children, and so engaged in an elaborate series of Vedic rituals. As a result, his three wives had four radiant sons, Rama, Bharata, Lakṣmaṇa (Lakshmana), and Satrughna (Shatrughna).

The Rāmāyaṇa then tells that a demon king, Rāvaṇa, through acts of meditation and asceticism, was granted a boon by the gods. He chose to be immortal—that is, unable to be killed. Due to his conceited nature, however, he only asked to be invulnerable to attacks by gods and demons, since he considered himself strong enough to defeat any humans who might wish him harm.

It is then revealed that Rama is actually a manifestation of Visṇu, born into a mortal body so that he can destroy Rāvaṇa and his progeny. When they reach late adolescence, Rama and his brother Lakṣmaṇa are led by the sage Visvamitra (Vishvamitra) into the forest to hunt demons and learn how to use magical weapons. Meanwhile, Brahma orders the gods and angels to give birth to their children among the monkeys, who will act as an army to help Rama in his quest.

Another king, Janaka of Mithila, is also granted a child in an unusual way. He finds a baby in a plowed field and names her Sita. Sita grows up to be exceptionally beautiful and graceful, and she is desired by men throughout the land. To ensure that she is matched with the most eligible suitor, Janaka holds a contest to see who can wield a great magical bow of the god Śiva (Shiva). Although many try, only Rama can pick it up and bend it, snapping it in two with ease. Janaka offers his daughters to Dasaratha’s sons, and Rama and Sita are happily wed.

The second book, the Ayodhya Kāṇḍa, reveals that after twelve years, Dasaratha wishes to pass along his crown to Rama. Everyone in the kingdom is satisfied with this arrangement, and Rama is set to rule, until a conspiracy stops him from taking power. On the whispered advice of her faithless servants, one of Dasaratha’s queens, Kaikeyi, mother of Bharata, forces the king to change his mind. Instead of giving him the crown, Dasaratha orders his son Rama into exile in the forest.

Although he is not happy to be denied his reign, Rama faithfully follows his father’s orders. He is joined by Lakṣmaṇa, who previously went with him on the demon-hunting adventure in the wilderness. Rama tells his wife, Sita, to stay behind in the city, but she says that she would rather live in the dangerous forest with him than enjoy the comforts of the palace without him. After they leave, the newly crowned Bharata feels remorse and goes to ask Rama to return. Rama refuses to come back until after the fourteen-year period of exile his father demanded. Bharata reluctantly leaves Rama but takes his sandals, which he wears throughout his reign to show everyone that he is only filling in for the rightful king, Rama, until he comes out of exile.

Next, in the Aranya Kāṇḍa, Rama, Sita, and Lakṣmaṇa begin their lives in exile. They travel to a series of hermitages and defend the sages from demons that threaten them. Sita tries to warn Rama about the dangers of attacking the demons, but he says it is his duty. Infuriated by their meddling in the affairs of demons, Śūrpaṇakhā the sister of Rāvaṇa, attempts to corrupt the two brothers by seducing them, even though she is very ugly. This fails, and Lakṣmaṇa defeats Śūrpaṇakhā by disfiguring her with his blade. Rama kills the host of demons sent to avenge her.

Rāvaṇa, now angered by the actions of the two princes, devises a plan to destroy them. He orders his follower Maricha to take the appearance of a radiant golden deer. Sita sees this deer and wants to keep it as a pet, so Rama goes off in search of it, leaving Lakṣmaṇa to guard Sita at a small hut in the woods. Eventually, Sita grows worried that Rama has been gone so long and compels Lakṣmaṇa to go find him. He reluctantly agrees but says she must not allow anyone into the hut. While the men are gone, Rāvaṇa poses as a sage and lures Sita out of the hut, then kidnaps her.

Sita is defended by a magical eagle (or vulture) called Jaṭāyu, who is the nephew of the great Garuda, the mount of Visṇu. Rāvaṇa defeats Jaṭāyu. Mortally wounded, Jaṭāyu tells Rama who has taken his wife. As the princes search for Sita, they encounter a headless demon named Kabandha, whom they defeat. As he is dying and the curse upon him is broken, Kabandha takes his true form as a gandharva (heavenly musician) and directs them to the chief of the monkey army, Sugriva.

In the fourth book, the Kishkindha Kāṇḍa, Sugriva takes the two human brothers to his palace, Kishkindha. He promises to help them on their quest to find Sita but delays for so long that Lakṣmaṇa grows angry with him. Eventually, peace is restored, and the great monkey hero, Hanuman, agrees to lead a search party. His search party encounters Sampati, the brother of the now-dead Jaṭāyu. Although his wings were damaged long ago, Sampati helps by telling the monkey search party that he heard Rāvaṇa took Sita to an island called Lakṣmī.

The fifth book, the Sundara Kāṇḍa, is primarily told from the viewpoint of Hanuman. He uses his powers to become a giant monkey, leaps across the sea to Lakṣmī, and then becomes a normal-sized monkey to spy on Rāvaṇa’s kingdom. He finds Sita and offers to take her away from the demon capital. Sita, however, refuses, saying that her honor forbids her to leave by any way other than rescue by her valiant husband. Meanwhile, Rāvaṇa is desperately trying to convince her to marry him instead. To delay Rāvaṇa, Hanuman uses his monkey powers to sow chaos and destruction throughout Lakṣmī, giving Rama time to mount an attack.

In the sixth book, the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Rama launches his assault on the demon strongholds. The clever monkey army crafts a temporary bridge, allowing Rama’s forces to go from the mainland to the island of Lakṣmī. After a war between Rāvaṇa’s demons and Rama’s monkeys and their allies, Rama kills Rāvaṇa and saves Sita. He refuses to accept her back as a wife, however. To prove her chastity, Sita announces she will undergo a ritual to the Vedic god Agni and walk into a fire. When she emerges unharmed, Rama accepts her and they return as the rightful rulers of Ayodhya.

In the seventh and last book, the Uttara Kāṇḍa, this seemingly happy ending takes a tragic turn. Although there is peace in Ayodhya and Rama and Sita are happy with one another, rumors spread among Rama’s subjects that Sita must have been violated during her time of captivity. Despite the fact that she already proved her chastity by walking through the sacred fire of Agni, Rama eventually succumbs to pressure from his subjects and sends her into exile the spring after their return. Even though this breaks her heart, Sita goes. Escorted by Rama’s brother Lakṣmaṇa, she tearfully accepts her fate.

While in the forest, she gives birth to twin boys, Lava and Kusa (Kusha). They are given the finest education and training in combat by none other than the sage Valmiki. He even teaches them to recite the Rāmāyaṇa, the story of their father’s heroic deeds. It happens that they get the chance to recite the Rāmāyaṇa for Rama himself. Upon hearing it, Rama is filled with sorrow for how badly he treated his faithful wife, Sita, and begs Valmiki to return her to him. When she sees Rama, Sita implores the earth goddess to take her and is swallowed by a great chasm. Rama then accepts Lava and Kusa as his true children but is soon recalled to heaven to take his true form of Visṇu, his mortal mission accomplished.

Uttara Kāṇḍa, Rāmāyaṇa

Bibliography

Acri, Andrea, Helen Creese, and Arlo Griffiths, eds. From Lakṣmī Eastwards: The Rāmāyaṇa in the Literature and Visual Arts of Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV, 2011. Print.

Babb, Lawrence. The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India. New York: Columbia UP, 1975. Print.

Bose, Mandakranta, ed. The Rāmāyaṇa Revisited. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Indonesian Ramayana. Northern Illinois U, n.d. Web. 14 August 2012.

Clooney, Francis X. Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Dutt, Manmatha Nath, ed. and trans. Uttara Kandam. Vol. 7 of The Ramayana. By Valmiki. Calcutta, 1894. Print.

Griffith, Ralph T. H. Appendix. The Ramayan of Valmiki. Vol. 5. By Valmiki. Ed. and trans. Griffith. London: Trubner, 1874. 315–29. Print.

Khanna, Vinod, and Malini Saran. “The Rāmāyaṇa Kakawin: A Product of Sanskrit Scholarship and Independent Literary Genius.” Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania 149.2 (1993): 226–49. Print.

Knapp, Bettina Liebowitz. Women in Myth. Albany: State U of New York P, 1997. Print.

Pollock, Sheldon. Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Berkeley: U of California P, 2003. Print.

Rajan, Rajeswari Sunder. Real and Imagined Women: Gender, Culture, and Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge, 1993. Print.

Valmiki. Valmiki Ramayana. Trans. Desiraju Hanumanta Rao and K. M. K. Murthy. Rao and Murty, 2008. Web. 21 August 2012.

Wagner, Frits A. Indonesia: The Arts of an Island Group. New York: McGraw, 1959. Print.

Whitlark, James S. “Valmiki.” Cyclopedia of World Authors. 4th rev. ed. Pasadena: Salem, 2003. Print.

Zacharias, Usha. “The Sita Myth and Hindu Fundamentalism: Masculine Signs of Feminine Beauty.” Ideals of Feminine Beauty: Philosophical, Social, and Cultural Dimensions. Ed. Karen A. Callaghan. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 37–52. Print.